Published under the headline, Backdoor taxes hit middle class, the article opened by describing the Obama Administration's plan to cut more than $1 trillion from the deficit over the next decade as relying "heavily on so-called backdoor tax increases that will result in a bigger tax bill for middle-class families." Four hours and three minutes after it hit the wire, the story was "withdrawn" with a promise that "A replacement story will run alter in the week."
Why did Reuters pull the story?
Business Insider cited a Reuters rep as saying the piece was withdrawn "due to significant errors of fact" and "should not have gone out." I think it was the language used in the article that prompted Reuters to pull it. In particular, it was a series of phrases shown below that, combined with the one mentioned above, must have made the hair stand up on the back of Rahm Emanuel's neck:
"...effectively a tax hike by stealth."
"middle-class families will face a slew of these backdoor increases."
Perhaps the largest contributing factor to the article being yanked is a list of tax break provisions popular among middle-class families that Obama might allow to expire:
* Taxpayers who itemize will lose the option to deduct state sales-tax payments instead of state and local income taxes;
* The $250 teacher tax credit for classroom supplies;
* The tax deduction for up to $4,000 of college tuition and expenses;
* Individuals who don’t itemize will no longer be able to increase their standard deduction by up to $1,000 for property taxes paid;
* The first $2,400 of unemployment benefits are taxable, in 2009 that amount was tax-free.
The last line of the story was, perhaps, the proverbial "nail in the coffin" for the Reuter's piece:
Trickle-down-taxation.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Terri, if you're looking for a job, drop me a line.
Ten-Gallon Hat Tip: Many thanks to the folks at the Dump The Democrats blog for managing to snag the text of the article and publish it in a post this morning before it vanished from the web.
* * *UPDATE 2/2/10 at 1:35 p.m. Central: Just moments after publishing this post, I discovered that Reuters had issued a more-recent advisory regarding the article which reads as follows:
"The Feb 1 story headlined "Backdoor taxes to hit middle class" is wrong and has been withdrawn. The story said lower-income families will pay more under tax provisions scheduled to expire Dec 31. The Obama administration's budget calls for the extension of those tax provisions for households earning less than $250,000. There will be no substitute story."
